Trixie is a teenage girl living on a farm in the Hudson Valley of New York with her three brothers. Shy lonely rich girl Honey Wheeler moves into the estate next door and she and Trixie become fast friends. Trixie and Honey and their brothers and friends form a secret club and solve cases ranging from right next door; to New York City; a Navajo reservation in Arizona; and the banks of the Mississippi. There are many adventures and some pretty smart mysteries.

There is often a competitiveness between Trixie Belden fans and Nancy Drew fans. Trixie fans love to claim a more realistic character who has trouble with math and too often has to babysit her little brother. While she is not traipsing around Istanbul admiring the carpets, it is very waspy in here. I didn't know what that term meant in the the sixth grade and the differences in the world in which these stories are set and our present surroundings have multiplied exponentially since I was twelve. But I don't think younger readers will mind. They'll be too busy looking for the missing emeralds or wondering why there's a light tonight in that spooky abandoned lighthouse or wishing that witch would stop whispering because we're eavesdropping outside this window and really really can't hear quite well enough.....oops!